Silage packer



Aug. 1, 1961 Filed March 9, 1959 Fig. 2

/ 42 Jesse A. Bafor I 4 INVENTOR.

Ky 3 BY United States Patent 2,994,262 SEAGE PACKER Jesse A. Bator,Perry Road, North Java, N.Y. Filed Mar. 9, 1959, Ser. No. 798,072 3Claims. (Cl. 100-65) This invention relates to hand-operated equipmentused on the farm and more particularly to a silage packer to facilitatepacking of silage and to perform the job with greater efficiency.

An object of the invention is to provide an exceedingly simple silagepacker with means by which to much more effectively pack silage in anenclosure, for instance a silo, bin, etc.

The packer in accordance with the invention has a depending flange alongone edge thereof contoured to fit the curvature of the inside wall ofthe enclosure accommodating the silage. In this way the inner walls ofthe enclosure are protected against blows from corners of the packer andfurthermore, the packing is done much more completely along the edges ofthe silage in the enclosure.

The invention overcomes a considerable difficulty in attempting to packsilage correctly in an enclosure, it being exceedingly difiicult, if notvirtually impossible to obtain the necessary compactness at the wallsurface of the enclosure when using conventional means for packmg.

These together with other objects and advantages which will becomesubsequently apparent reside in the details of construction andoperation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, whereinlike numerals refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

FIGURE 1 is a fragmentary perspective view of an enclosure, silage inthe enclosure and a packer being used to compact the silage in theenclosure,

FIGURE 2 is a bottom view of the packer in FIG- URE 1.

FIGURE 3 is a sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of FIGURE 1.

In the accompanying drawings there is shown an enclosure having a sidewall 12 with silage 14 therein. Enclosure 10 diagrammatically representsany type of enclosure to support silage.

Packer 16 which exemplifies the invention, comprising a handle 13 fittedin a socket 20 which rises from and is rigidly fixed onto the base 22 ofthe packer. The base is made of metal and has reinforcing ribs 24extending diagonally from corner to corner thereof, holding the socket20 fixed in place. Ordinarily base 22, ribs 24 and socket 20 are castintegrally. There are means for rigidly securing handle 18 in socket 20,for example setscrew 26 threaded into a tapped aperture in the side wallof socket 20 and engaging handle 18.

The corners of the base 22 are preferably rounded to avoid sharpness atthese places of the packer. One edge 30 of base 22 is smoothly curved toconform generally to the curvature of the inside surface of wall 12.Further, there is a depending flange 32 at this edge with the outersurface 34 of the depending flange being coplanar with 2,994,262Patented Aug. 1, 1961 the edge 30. The outer surface 34 of flange 32forms a continuation of edge 30 in a vertical downward direction whenthe packer is oriented as shown in FIGURE 3. The lower edge 38 of flange32 is smoothly curved in crosssection (FIGURE 3), and the rear surface40 of flange 32 is at right angles to the bottom surface '42 of base 22.

In use, the packer is operated as any other packer, being held by handle18 and vertically thrust in a downward direction on the silage 14.However, the benefit of the packer is realized when packing along theedge of the silage that is, at the face of the wall 12. The curved edge30 approximately follows the contour of the curved wall and if desired,the curvature of edge 30 may be made to precisely match the curvature ofthe inside surface of wall 12. This enables the packer to be workedexactly at the inner surface of wall 12. Furthermore, the presence offlange 32 enables the silage immediately adjacent to the inner surfaceof wall 12 to be compacted down lower than the remaining silage alongthe top surface thereof to obtain a greater compaction along the edgesof the silage throughout the vertical height of the enclosure 10,postulating that the packer will be used throughout the necessarypacking operation.

The rounded corners and edges of all parts of the packer not onlyimprove the appearance of the packer but they also eliminate thepossibility of scarring the inner surfaces of the walls of theenclosure. The rounded edge 30 together with the rounded edge 38, andthe smooth curvature in a longitudinal direction of flange 32 furtheraid in obtaining a neat, improved compaction at the edges of the silagein enclosure 10.

The foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles ofthe invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes willreadily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limitthe invention to the exact construction and operation shown anddescribed, and accordingly all suitable modifications and equivalentsmay be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention asclaimed.

What is claimed as new is as follows:

1. A hand packer for silage in a silo having a cylindrical side wall,said packer comprising a substantially rectangular base having an areasubstantially smaller than the cross-section of a silo, said baseincluding three straight side edges and an arcuate fourth side edgehaving its center of curvature exteriorly of the base and a radiuscorresponding substantially to the inside radius of a silo side wall, asocket provided at the center of said base, and an upstanding handlehaving its lower end portion secured in said socket.

2. The device as defined in claim 1 together with a depending arcuateflange provided under said base contiguously with said arcuate fourthside edge.

3. The device as defined in claim 2 wherein said flange has a lower edgerounded in cross-section.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,766,171 I-Ietherington June 24, 1930 2,234,831 Porter Mar. 11, 19412,460,937 Kaufman Feb. 8, 1949

